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What to Watch: "Mad Men"

In the latest installment of "What to Watch", IMDb's TV Editor Melanie McFarland chats with "Mad Men" stars Jon Hamm, January Jones, John Slattery, and series creator Matthew Weiner about the drama's extraordinary legacy, as AMC prepares to air its final seven episodes.

Storyline

While Elaine is apartment sitting for Jerry who's off to Minneapolis to work, the place is burglarized. Jerry returns to find his TV, VCR, computer and answering machine missing. Turns out Kramer left the door open but got distracted leaving the place wide open. Jerry begins to think that George's suggestion that he move to a newer and bigger place may have merit. Elaine would very much to get her hands on his apartment and away from her singing roommate. Turns out George decides he wants the place as well. Written by
garykmcd

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Kramer makes his first sliding entrance in this episode. According to Michael Richards, he was late on his cue so he compensated by coming in very fast. When the audience laughed, Richards decided to keep the sliding entrance and it eventually became a trademark. See more »

Goofs

When Jerry talks to Elaine about being the "master packer" a chair behind Elaine with a Yankees jacket draped on it moves around between shots. See more »

Quotes

Elaine:
Jerry, come on, you're doing okay now. You should at least take a look at this place. You shouldn't have to live like this.
Jerry:
Like this? You just said you wanted to live here!
Elaine:
Well, for me it's a step up. It's like moving from Iceland to Finland.
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

User Reviews

Not that many people would think of making a stand-up routine about giving someone the finger, right? Well, Jerry Seinfeld does so in this episode's opening sequence, explaining how said gesture is ultimately pointless (giving the toe would be much bolder, in his opinion) and thus inducing the first of several laughs that will come over the course of 23 minutes.

This is the one where Kramer's idiocy fully manifests itself: having been asked to watch Jerry's apartment, he accidentally leaves the door open, allowing thieves to get in and steal the TV. The reactions to the event are among the best ever conceived for a comedy show: Jerry entering the apartment and turning on the television only to realize it's gone is funny; Kramer explaining what happened (he was distracted by The Bold and the Beautiful) is funnier; Jerry describing his hyper-safe lock and its only defect ("The door... must be CLOSED!") is genius; the final assertion about everyone's favorite goof-ball ("I'm human" "In your way") is a masterclass in sardonic humor.

But it's not just about Kramer: as usual, George and Elaine get their moment in the spotlight, especially in the second half of the episode, where the former competes with Jerry over getting a new apartment (cue a discussion about coin-flipping) and the latter decides to take the one of whomever loses (the scene where she refers to Jerry's place as "moving from Iceland to Finland" is the best Elaine moment of Season 1). This section also shows the first real glimpse of the series' ground-breaking "no hugging, no learning" mantra: no matter what happens, the characters always end each episode as shamelessly selfish and shallow as they were at the start, even when they come close to disrupting their friendship. This is confirmed by the perfectly timed, instantly memorable closing line, the delivery of which only constitutes further proof of how audacious Seinfeld was and still is.

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